(RED BANK, NJ) -- The Vogel presents Early Elton Trio on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7:30pm. Early Elton Trio is a tribute to the Elton John, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson trio tours of 1970 – 1972 featuring Jeff Kazee (piano, vocals) and John Conte (bass and vocals) from Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes (piano, vocals), along with Rich Pagano (drums and vocals) of The Fab Faux.
As the story goes, Elton’s label didn’t have the funds to send him out to tour the US with a full band yet Elton needed to promote his imminent releases. Having decided on Dee and Nigel, Elton then rearranged the songs and vocals to fit within the limitations of his new lineup. Suddenly, a new sound emerged that was both raw and poignant.
While Jeff, John and Rich have painstakingly scoured the net for rare video, bootleg recordings and even Elton’s own home demos in shaping their collective vision of Elton’s Trio Period, they blur the line slightly between replication and innovation — while still capturing and utilizing the spirit, mood and energy from those early tours.
The Gospel/Funk of “Take Me To The Pilot”, the soulful storytelling of “Levon” and “Amoreena”, the epic-sounding “Indian Sunset” and “Burn Down The Mission”, the countrified “Country Comfort” and the grand scale of “Madman Across The Water” are just a few of the fantastic chapters that make up the Early Elton songbook. The band has also been known to perform Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water and the live concert, 11 – 17 – 70 in their entireties. Early Elton Trio is dedicated to continuing the spirit of this period-arguably, his finest in terms of material, production and performance. With only two years since its inception, the Early Elton show is playing to capacity audiences in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut tri-state area.
New Jersey Stage reached out to John Conte to learn more about the project.
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How did the idea to come up with a band concentrating on Elton's early years come about?
The way I remembered it is that the three of us were at a soundcheck for another gig we were doing and Jeff (Kazee) started playing “Take me to the Pilot.” Rich Pagano and I joined in at the chorus, channeling the approach that Nigel Olsson & Dee Murray have on the live version from the 11-17-70 album. We all gushed about how much we loved that live album and it's looser sort of Jam band energy. Elton and his band were young, hungry & fierce. We were also in agreement that Elton’s early material was his strongest and most inspiring to us.
We came to realize that during the entire period from 1970-72 Elton only toured as a trio - no guitar. It was a “piano power trio”. We thought that it would be a blast to put together a 10 song set, book a gig at a NYC club for one night and see how we felt about it.
Our first gig was at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village. It’s a relatively small venue but the place was packed. We obviously felt that we had something - because here we are 15 years later.
What was the biggest challenge for this project? Was it finding the actual bootlegs, videos, and home demos? Creating a sound between the three of you that you all felt represented the music well? Something else?
As you know, it’s not too difficult to find anything you want since the advent of Youtube.
So we found a lot of stuff to reference there. There are some songs we didn’t find any trio performances of, so for those songs I’d say that it’s a combination of drawing on all that we had gleaned from the other videos & bootlegs and just using our imaginations.
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There was a challenge in getting used to what happens sonically on stage because we were working with a real grand piano, all the way to stage right, the drums set up all the way to stage left, and the bass straight in the middle. It’s a less typical stage plot for a pop/rock n’ roll band to have. And maybe even more so for me, it was getting used to being front and center on stage. That was pretty much a new thing for me.
Also, since there is no guitar in the band, I’m using more effects pedals than I would usually use as a bassist playing pop music. These are effects more typically used by guitarists: distortion, reverb, delay, wah-wah. I use them sparingly, but it helps to keep things sonically interesting and hopefully adds some surprises for the listener.
Is there one song in particular that you think represents what the band is trying to do the most? If so, is it because the song is a forgotten or lost classic? Or shows Elton's songwriting in a different way than traditionally seen?
It’s difficult to pick one, but Burn Down The Mission is a good example. There is a huge difference between the sound of the studio version of that song and the live version that is on 11-17-70. We use that live arrangement as a blueprint and put our own personal spin on it as far as all the jamming that can take it to unexpected places. Improvisation is a major part of what this band is about. Another example is Indian Sunset. Elton only performed this as a solo piece during those trio years, but we have adapted it for the full band.
Elton John is not someone I can really recall hearing many bands covering in concert. Prior to this trio, had you ever played any Elton John tunes in any of your bands?
I had never played any of Elton’s material in a band before. Although I’m sure that I had played “Your Song” on some lounge gigs with my mom’s band when I was in my teens & twenties.
Finally, what do you hope audience members take away from the show?
Don’t expect it to be like a typical “tribute band”. No two shows are ever the same. We are not trying to recreate the sounds of Elton’s studio discography or trying to sing like him or mimic him. But we are trying to channel the spirit of his trio tours between 1970-72. As Jeff Kazee likes to put it: “It’s Elton before the duck suit, blow, and binge shopping!”
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Tickets range from $49.50 to $79.50 and are available for purchase online. The Vogel is located at 99 Monmouth Street in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at gary@newjerseystage.com.
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